In nearly every heavy industrial application, turning threaded fasteners – nuts and bolts – is generally viewed by two criteria: (1) the need to fasten tightly enough to prevent movement of parts and achieve a good seal without exceeding the fastener’s elasticity level, and (2) successful removal of fasteners after long periods of environmental exposure to harsh conditions. Yet, ensuring you select the right torque tool for the job can be crucially influenced by the type of torque power it delivers.

When installing heavy-duty fasteners, there are times when you want just a little more power, or in other instances, a lot more power. After all, when it comes to turning nuts and bolts, especially stubborn corroded ones, what could be more basic than power? The seemingly apparent answer to that question can be profoundly consequential: You need controlled power. That is, controlled “torque.” Not only that, ideally you need smooth torque, with continuous rotation. Otherwise, you could outdo yourself and strip threads, break bolt heads or even cause personal injury.Historical approaches to working with heavy-duty threaded fasteners have aimed at sheer torque power, using long lever arms and heavy hammers on slugging wrenches. More recently, the hydraulic wrench has been viewed as the solution to many problems that require serious torque. But hydraulic wrenches are notorious for their heavy ratchets, bulky compressors and laborious operation. And they’re not cheap.

Technicians are finding that the best solution for applying torque power today is with a complete range of torque control products, including manual and powered torque wrenches and torque multipliers. From less than a few foot pounds up to more than 100 thousand foot-pounds, these torque control tools provide “continuous” torque, making it easier and often safer to assemble and service-threaded fasteners while reducing application problems and tool costs.

The advantages of continuous rotation, as provided by torque multipliers, are especially beneficial when it comes to heavy-duty torque fastening applications. Hydraulic tools operate through a hydraulic ram that extends and retracts, ratcheting the head. This is a long and tedious process that requires the operator to activate and stand by the pump with a hand-held controller.

On the other hand, continuous rotation tools eliminate the ratcheting and hammering, producing the correct torque values through smooth, constant gear manipulation. Mountz Torque Multipliers are a good example of continuous torque for heavy-duty use and are proven to achieve the correct torque values in a quicker, more cost-efficient manner.

A shop foreman working at a worldwide supplier of steam turbines, compressors and other turbomachinery for the oil and gas markets, replaced a hydraulic torque wrench system with a Mountz, Inc. CLS pneumatic torque multiplier at an oil field maintenance facility in Louisiana.

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The EZ-Glider Position Control torque arms by Mountz Inc. help manufacturers detect and eliminate costly screw-fastening errors during the assembly process. Position Control torque arms are designed to reduce the risk of improperly fastened screws, ensuring that every screw is in the correctly tightened in the correct sequence. Using the EZ-Glider Position Control torque arm is like putting the eyes and ears of a quality control manager where they are needed most – right on the assembly area.

“Sequence based fastening is critical to proper process control and a quality fastening result for many applications,” said Brad Mountz, President & CEO of Mountz, Inc. “If an assembly exhibits cross talk, a phenomenon where torque to one fastener changes the result to another in the in fastening pattern, altering the sequence is often necessary to achieve proper results. An encoded torque arm is perfect because it guides the operators sequence and provides feedback if done incorrectly.”

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The EZ-Glider torque arms are designed to improve production and quality control during the assembly process. The ergonomic torque arm prevents side load and cross threading, by securely clasping the electric screwdriver or pneumatic screwdriver and keeping the tool in a perpendicular alignment. The EZ-Glider helps remove the operators influence in the assembly process and strengthens quality control. The ergonomic design of the EZ-Glider torque arms reduces RMI (repetitive motion injury) and CTS (carpal tunnel syndrome). The effortless handling of the torque arm provides comfortable tool operation and increased production.

An ergonomic mindset helps ensure safer conditions
Besides the proper selection of ergonomically correct tools and workstations, manufactures should adopt enterprise wide programs that increase the awareness of ergonomics within administrative offices as well as on the production floor.

A successful ergonomic system incorporates employee participation that includes discussion across all levels and directions of an organization. It’s recommended to avoid the one-size-fits-all approach. Every ergonomic concern requires its own evaluation, ideally performed by a person competent in such issues. When indicated, control measures should be designed to eliminate ergonomic stresses specific to the results of the evaluation. Finally, effective follow-up mechanisms must be provided.

- Form a permanent safety committee
- Perform a job safety analysis for every job
- Perform routine inspections, even if no hazards have been reported
- Immediately correct any deficiencies; and conduct an accident investigation for each incident, even “near misses.”

Torque wrenches go out of calibration with use. Verifying the accuracy of a torque wrench is a key quality measurement that must be taken for a successful outcome. Two accepted methods may be used. Verification is a process step to validate if the wrench is in or out of calibration. This test can be conducted with a suitable torque tester/checker. Any operator or inspector may verify a wrench by connecting it to a suitable torque tester and pulling the wrench. The torque tester will display a result that must be compared to the allowable tolerance of the wrench. Some torque testers offer a tolerance-setting feature that provides a GO/NG result (RED or GREEN) when the wrench is pulled. If the verification result is OK then the wrench is deemed in tolerance. If it is NG then calibration or adjustment of the wrench is required.

Unless broken, calibrating a torque wrench is a fine-tuning of the wrench to bring it back within tolerance. A competently trained technician with equipment that is certified to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) must perform the work if a calibration certificate is required. The international standard for torque wrench calibration (ISO6789) mandates all conforming wrenches meet or exceed 5000 cycles before requiring calibration. It also defines the methodology for calibration. Most competent wrench manufacturers use ISO 6789 as the basis for establishing performance criteria or standards for their tools.

A regular scheduled verification and calibration program helps to eliminate errors based on a wrench being out of tolerance. Competent calibration labs in conformance with ISO17025 or best practices will issue “as found” readings for a calibration, allowing examination of the wrench condition at time of calibration. It is an industry practice to reduce the calibration interval by one half if a wrench is found to be out of tolerance at time of calibration. Failure to calibrate a torque wrench may lead to failure of a joined connection.